Overview

The HEMATOLOGY-ONCOLOGYFELLOWSHIPTRAININGPROGRAM at the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Jackson Memorial Hospital prepares academically oriented physicians to become leaders in clinical teaching and in clinical and laboratory research.

The Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Training Program offers a well-integrated fellowship training program which leads to eligibility for the Hematology and/or Oncology Board Examination after a three year training program. The fellowship program is accredited by ACGME. The combined program for Hematology and Oncology Board Certification includes the mandatory 18 months of clinical rotations over a 36 month fellowship. The remainder of time is distributed among research time (basic or clinical/translational research), elective rotations and vacation.

The Hematology/Oncology fellowship program offers a broad exposure to hematologic and oncologic diseases in the in-patient and outpatient settings at three allied hospitals: University of Miami Hospital, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Application Information

Requirements

The Jackson Memorial Hospital Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Training Program selects fellows through the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP). All fellowship applicants should have completed an ACGME-accredited internal medicine program. All applicants must submit their applications via ERAS. U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or physicians under H-1B or J-1 (exchange visitor program) can apply to our fellowship program.

Program Curriculum

Each fellow must complete the requirements necessary to achieve ABIM board certification but there is a great deal of flexibility built into the fellowship program. Thus each fellow is able to individualize their education in order to reach their specific career goals. The Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Training Program is composed of Core Rotations, Mandatory rotations, Structured Electives and Flexible Time.

Core Rotations

There are four Core Rotations. These rotations are 1) Inpatient Oncology Service at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center 2) Inpatient Oncology Service Jackson Memorial Hospital 3) the Hematology Consult Service at the University of Miami Hospital and 4) Hematology Consult Service at Jackson Memorial Hospital. These rotations are 10-12 weeks duration. Inpatient rotations comprise about one quarter of the fellows experience. The majority of modern oncology care is in the outpatient setting and this is reflected in the fellowship program.

Non-Malignant Hematology-in this 4 week rotation the first year fellow learns about blood banking, rotates through the coagulation lab, attends Sickle Cell Clinic and Hemophilia/Von Willebrands Clinic. During the afternoons the fellow works with the senior fellow and the attending who are staffing the JMH Hematology Consultation Service. In this way the first year fellow is exposed to hematology consults in a graduated fashion as a secondary fellow in their first year and as the primary fellow during their second and third years.

Bone Marrow Transplantation Service-The fellow will learn to comprehensively manage patients undergoing Autologous and Allogeneic transplantation in this 4 week rotation. They will learn the indications and rationale for transplantation as well as the management of the toxicities.

Structured Electives

Structured Electives are the fellow’s opportunity for exposure to multiple site disease groups (SDG). These are intensive immersions in a SDG that maximizes teaching by having the fellow paired one to one with attendings in the site disease specific outpatient clinics. The fellow can choose from a large selection of electives and can decide how many weeks to attend each elective in order to reach their goals. Available Structured Electives include:

Flexible Time

We believe the training program should be individualized for each fellow since fellows come to the program with very different goals and experiences. A strong effort is made to maintain maximum flexibility. The fellow works with their mentor to develop a fellowship program that fulfills their educational goals. The flexible time can be used for bench research, writing a clinical trial, accruing patients to a clinical trial, attending a continuity clinic at SCCC, taking a statistics course, attending a grant workshop or undertaking a quality assurance project.

Mentoring

The First year fellows are assigned a mentor at the start of their first year. This mentor will meet with them at least quarterly during the first year and bi-annually after that. The mentor will help the fellow pick elective rotations, evaluate the fellow’s progress during the first year, assist the fellow with developing an educational plan for the second and third year of fellowship and facilitate the matching of the fellow with a research mentor based on the fellow’s interests and goals. The fellow will pick a mentor for their research project at the end of their first year of fellowship. The mentor will assist the fellow with the development of a research project, provide oversight of the project and monitor the progress of the fellow throughout the research project.

Fellowship Tracks

During the first year the fellow will finish the in-patient hematology/oncology Core Rotations at SCCC and JMH. The fellow will select Structured Electives that will offer a broad range of experience with different SDGs and introduce them to many members of the faculty. During this time the first year fellow will decide what their career goals are with the help of their mentor and formulate a plan to attain them. By the end of their first year or during the first 6 months of their second year the fellow will be able to select one of four fellowship tracks.

Defined Fellowship Pathways

Clinical Research Track-designed to enable the career development of a clinical investigator

Fellow is mentored by a clinical investigator

Fellow is expected to write a clinical trial

Fellow should attend IRB and Protocol Review Committee meetings

Fellow should attend ASCO/AACR/ESMO clinical research workshop (or similar meeting)

Fellow should take a clinical statistics course at University of Miami

Consider a fourth year as an instructor and completion of Master’s of Science in Clinical and Translational Investigation (MSCTI)

Public Health/Global Health/Health Equities Track-designed for the Oncology Fellow who has a passion for epidemiology, global health or disparity research

Fellow will enroll in the University of Miami MPH program

Fellow will have a public health oncology thesis project

Laboratory/Translational Track

Fellow will front load all clinical requirements in the first year or 18 months. The last 2 years to 18 months will be focused on a laboratory-based project.

Fellow will attend AACR molecular workshop (or similar meeting)

Fellow will take Cancer Biology course and any other courses pertinent to their project

Consider MS in Cancer Biology

Fellow may opt for single board certification option ie: Oncology only, Hematology only or pursue a fourth year as an clinical instructor

Clinical Track-designed for the fellow who is intellectually curious but does not want a career in academic medicine

Will have at 2 JMH clinics/week during the Second Year and 3 JMH clinics/week during Third year

Will have Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center continuity clinics in Second and Third Year

Must lead Q/A projects each year

Research Opportunities

The Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center is at the forefront of advanced new treatments and cutting edge technology. This allows our team of cancer experts to develop and pioneer highly innovative strategies to fight some of the most aggressive and deadly forms of cancer. There are more than 250 physicians and scientists dedicated to cancer care and research. Every day, our physicians and scientists within the cancer center’s 15 site disease groups and 7 multidisciplinary research programs, are discovering exciting new breakthroughs that are quickly transforming the way cancer patients are diagnosed and treated. Translating research breakthroughs into more effective treatments remains one of Sylvester’s highest priorities. Sylvester conducts more clinical research than any other institution in South Florida and has a wide range of trials, with 168 currently underway.

Scientists at Sylvester are grouped into seven multidisciplinary research programs

The fellows are expected to develop research projects during their training. Projects are tailored to each fellow’s interests and can include anything from basic science research to design of a clinical trial or clinical outcomes research. During the first year the fellow will identify a mentor and with their guidance devise an appropriate research project that can be completed by the end of their fellowship. The fellow will meet on a regular basis with mentor and the fellowship director to determine progress on their project. Fellows are expected to present and/or publish the results of their work in a peer reviewed journal. Research electives may also be developed in conjunction with clinical or laboratory faculty research mentors.

Miami Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI)

Created in 2012, the Miami Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) drives research translation into evidence-based clinical and community practices that improve the health of South Florida’s diverse population.

In a community comprised of 85 percent racial and ethnic minorities, the Miami CTSI makes significant contributions in minority health and health disparities and in training underrepresented minorities in clinical, translational, and community-engaged research.

The Miami CTSI educates, connects, and supports research teams by building the distinct science of clinical translational research, fostering collaboration, and managing the resources needed to sustain success in these areas.

Made up of the University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Health System, and Miami VA Healthcare System, we are jointly funded by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. The Miami CTSI is member of the National Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Consortium, a prestigious group of 61 world-class academic research institutions that is transforming the way biomedical research is conducted across the country.

The Miami Clinical and Translational Science Institute offers a Master’s of Science in Clinical and Translational Investigation. This structured educational program offers trainees of diverse cultural and educational backgrounds formal graduate training in the principles and practice of translational science and clinical research.

This program provides a foundation for the development of future practitioners and leaders of translational science who are prepared to deal with the perceived bottlenecks that inhibit translational research: institutional culture and practice, scientific complexity of translational research design and methodology, and regulatory and ethical processes.

The mission of this curriculum development program is to engage promising new and early stage investigators in the discipline of translational science, so that they make the pursuit of academic translational science their own professional goal.

Did You Know?

In the past 10 years 46% of our graduates have entered academic practice. You can find our graduates at:

Yale University
University of Pennsylvania
University of Miami
University of Oklahoma
University of Louisville
Karamanos Cancer Center
Dana Farber
Cleveland Clinic
Moffit Cancer Center
Tulane University
Universidad Javeriana
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Johns Hopkins

Two of our fellows have won ASCO Young Investigator Awards in the past 10 years.